Laura Dern’s mother, Diane Ladd, wanted her to quit acting and become a lawyer

Laura Dern almost lived up to her role in Noah Baumbach’s semi-autobiographical divorce drama “Marriage Story.”

Dern, who won an Academy Award for her performance in the 2019 film, revealed that her mother, actress Diane Ladd, was determined to encourage Dern to become a lawyer instead of a film career. Dern, whose father is Bruce Dern, started acting as a child, playing an extra alongside Ladd in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

“I fell in love,” Dern said on “Live With Kelly & Mark” (via Entertainment Weekly). “Scorsese let me be an extra, sitting at the counter watching these amazing artists work together.”

Ladd added on the talk show: “I said no. I talked him out of it. I said, “No, honey, no, no, no.” Look, be a lawyer, be a doctor. I said, “If you save someone’s life as a doctor, no one is going to care if your chin looks like you’re crying or your butt is too big.”

Ladd continued: “He cheated. He said, “Oh, mom, you encourage everyone, you tell them to use the gifts God gave you,” and he said, “If God gave you a gift, let me use it now, I’m going to be so bored. I don’t want to do this later.'”

Ladd and Dern collaborated on a joint memoir, “Honey, Baby, Mine,” which details their relationship and their Hollywood legacy. They have appeared together in movies like ‘Wild at Heart’ and series like ‘Enlightened’.

Dern has previously spoken about growing up with her parents in the spotlight, saying in her Oscar acceptance speech, “Some people say, ‘You’ll never meet your heroes.’ But sometimes, when you’re blessed, you get them as your parents.”

And “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” helmer Scorsese was key in encouraging Dern to continue acting.

“He called me when I was in my late teens. And that meant the world to me, and I’m so lucky to be able to tell him that,” Dern said. “He said, ‘I’ve been watching what you’re doing, you’re doing what the filmmakers are doing, it’s the right thing to do. I asked what that was and he said, “You’re building a task force. Continue. Keep striving. Dive deeper, find again and again.”

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